


21st Century Earth Terms

by insatiablerealist



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Discussion of Gender, Episode: s10e11 World Enough and Time, Friendship, Nonbinary Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 06:25:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11663448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insatiablerealist/pseuds/insatiablerealist
Summary: Bill's still wondering about how Time Lords view gender, so she brings it up again, and the Doctor gets into Time Lord culture and divulges more personal information on the subject this time.Set after the flashback in World Enough and Time where the Doctor mentions Missy's previous regenerations and Time Lord conceptions of gender, but before the main events of the episode.





	21st Century Earth Terms

**Author's Note:**

> Ever since World Enough and Time aired I've been thinking about Time Lords and gender and clutching to that one line I can use to say that the Doctor is a canon nonbinary character. I wanted to write something on the subject so this is what came out.
> 
> I feel like I should include a disclaimer that the views on labels and pronouns in this fic aren't necessarily my views or what I think is "right" or anything, but this is influenced by my own nonbinary identity and relationship to gender. If anyone feels weird about any of the language used feel free to talk to me!

“Alright, back to your flat! Hopefully we won’t get lost on the way home this time,” the Doctor called as he began flipping levers on the TARDIS console. Bill closed the door behind her. “Lost” in this case referred to an inadvertent stop in the 18th century. The history nerd in her had loved the detour, but she had been planning to just get takeaway with the Doctor and then go home, and she was now exhausted. However, one thing from their conversation over dinner was still bouncing around in her mind.

“Doctor?” Bill asked, sidling up to the TARDIS console the way she always did when she had a burning question.

“Yes?” The Doctor peered around the console at her, pausing in the middle of entering the coordinates for her home.

“Before, when you told me about Missy being a man when you two were younger, you said something about how Time Lords don’t have the same stereotypes about gender as we do.”

“Yes. It’ll take the human race centuries to catch up,” the Doctor muttered, sounding derisive as usual. He continued to fiddle with levers and knobs on the console.

“But there are humans now who don’t see gender as a strictly binary thing. And maybe we can’t regenerate into entirely new bodies, but modern medicine can do a lot. We’re not totally archaic,” Bill pointed out, walking around so that she was in his line of sight and harder to ignore. “What I’m getting at is, are all Time Lords trans? Or nonbinary, I guess.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “21st century Earth terms. They aren’t exactly applicable to my species.” Seeing Bill was still looking at him expectantly, he continued. “Time Lord society never had the same gender roles that your society does."

“Huh.”

“What?”

“I’m trying to imagine a society without sexism. Must be nice,” Bill said, and the Doctor gave her a sardonic smile.

"And our physical sex can change with regeneration, and our life spans are longer than yours—add all that up and the delineations of gender or lack thereof that humans use to define themselves lose most of their meaning. Even if we did put as much effort into definitions and labels as you lot, I imagine it would all fall apart after hundreds of years and several different bodies. Although," The Doctor admitted as he returned to the console, preparing to set the TARDIS in motion, "I suppose I can understand why all those labels mean so much to you."

“Wait—sorry, I don’t wanna be nosy—”

“But you’re going to be.”

Bill paused for only a second. “…Yeah. If you don’t have the same ‘delineations’ for gender as humans, does that mean you’re nonbinary? I mean, I don’t wanna give you a label you don’t want. I just mean if you had to pick an Earth term.”

The Doctor stopped his motions and fell silent, leaning on against the TARDIS console lost in thought. “Yeah, I guess so,” he said after a long moment. “Binary divisions for that sort of thing have never entirely appealed to me.”

“Do you…do you want me to use different pronouns for you or anything?”

The Doctor shrugged. “If you want. I’ve spent enough time on this planet being assumed to be a man that it really doesn’t matter to me.” For a moment Bill wondered whether he was being honest with her, but then he continued, in an aggravated tone, “And English is an awkward language to handle neutral pronouns in, it’s much simpler in Gallifreyan.”

Bill smiled. “Alright. I’m cool with it either way.”

For a moment the Doctor didn’t react, but eventually he murmured, “Thanks.”

Bill was almost ready to let the subject drop and finally go home, but one last question piqued her curiosity.

“What about Missy?”

“What about Missy what?" 

“Does she feel the same about the whole gender thing as you?”

“You’d have to ask her,” the Doctor said. 

Bill made a face. “Even if she wasn’t evil or whatever, I couldn’t just ask Missy something like that.”

“Why not? You had no problem asking me.”

“That’s cause I know you! That made it not weird. Well, less weird, anyway. Missy and I have barely talked to each other, you know, had a proper conversation. I can’t bring up something personal like that.”

“You’ll have plenty of time to get to know her!” The Doctor pointed out, pulling one final lever.

“I still think that’s a terrible idea!” Bill clutched the console as the TARDIS jolted into motion.

“Are we really going to go over this again?”

“No, because I’m too tired to argue.” Just as she spoke, the TARDIS landed. “Assuming we’re actually at my flat this time, I’m happy to walk out that door and go straight to bed without another word.”

“Definitely your flat. I got the right century and everything.”

“Well, that’s something. Goodnight, Doctor.” Bill skipped to the door.

“Goodnight—wait!” the Doctor called after her. “You’ve got an essay to hand in to me tomorrow, don’t you?”  

“Finished it this morning!” She grinned, and the Doctor smiled back.

The smile didn’t entirely fade from his face by the time Bill had left and shut the TARDIS door. He couldn’t help but be proud of his student-turned-friend, even (the teacher in him corrected that to “especially”) when her questions caught him off-guard.

**Author's Note:**

> One more disclaimer: I really dislike the implication (especially in light of the 13th doctor) that Time Lords are male when played by cis male actors and female when played by cis female actors and nothing in between, and I feel like this fic didn't entirely dispel that idea. Basically I think trans Time Lords would be a cool thing to explore more directly, but I'll probably stick to just writing about the Doctor as nonbinary because that's something where I can draw from personal experience.
> 
> If you wanna talk, leave a comment or hit me up on [tumblr!](http://eelanorforcongress.tumblr.com)


End file.
